Baffled

[excerpt]

Subject: Lunch with Me?

Dear Star Last Semester Financial Accounting Students

I would like to take you all to lunch one day shortly. Do you think you
could each provide a day or days when you are free to my PA Lorel. She
can work out a time and get back with you.

We will hold it in University house here on campus.


Regards

John

Professor John D Lyon
Fitzgerald Professor of Accounting
Head of Department
Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems
The University of Melbourne

[/excerpt]

I'm still a little skeptical over the authenticity of this email - it feels a little out of left field, though not one I'd put past John Lyon. The subject line made me laugh. I can almost hear him narrating this email in his humourously sardonic, highly modulated style of speech that makes his lectures so memorable.

Sadly, I will have to miss it, being in different continents and all. Bummer. I would've dearly liked to meet him on a more personal level - his larger-than-life personality would've made for one interesting lunch!

What a feeling!

The Age does this weather thing where they tell you what the temperature actually is, and then what it feels like:

I think it's a pretty useful model to express just how long this exam period has been:

The good news is, it's over. I had to do a fair amount of exam marking after my first two morning papers, but it wasn't too bad since I started studying earlier in anticipation of the marking commitments.

So there are a few weeks more before I leave for KL (18 July) - in that time I'll probably be packing and moving, renting out my room, playing frisbee again, going on a trip or two and organising a last few things for the exchange. Woohoo!

Diversions

Hey you. Yes, you.

Nothing much has happened since my last post. I wish I could blog about exciting new travels, interesting incidents or something, but the reality is I've been back and forth between home and uni, studying most of the time and procrastinating the rest. Routine stuff.

I'm in the middle of the mid-terms and assignments season, so just working to clear the lot. For some good news, I've been accepted into Wharton. I'll be back in KL probably mid-July to mid-August, then flying off to the states for the fall term. After the term ends in mid-December, I'll be traipsing around NYC with Aditi and Rachael for about two weeks, celebrating the end of my uni life and my first step into the real world.

As exciting as it is, that's all still a little way off. Amidst the tedium, I've been amusing myself with little time-wasting diversions on the internet, like this.

There once was a buggy AI
Who decided her subject should die.
When the plot was uncovered,
The subjected discovered
That sadly the cake was a lie.

I figure Alex would particularly appreciate this one. ;) Anyway, more here! The site was set up by Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, and is pretty much a bash.org for (mostly geeky) limericks. It's pretty entertaining. Here's another one that made me laugh.

There once was a man named Bertold
Who drank beer when the weather grew cold
As he reached for his cup...
"NEEEEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP!!!"
Oh, snap! You just got limerickrolled!

Oh, one last note. The beautiful love between House and Wilson, it's trooo! Okay, so the whole internet knew before me, but better late than never. I hadn't been watching House in awhile (slow internet, can't download) but not too long ago I turned on the TV to find the most squeeworthy episode of House. Ever.

[transcript]

House - S04E12:

HOUSE: This isn't just about the sex. You like her personality. You like that she's conniving. You like that she has no regard for consequences. You like that she can humiliate someone if it serves...
HOUSE: [wide-eyed] Oh, my God. You're sleeping with me.

...

HOUSE: Went by your hotel this morning. They told me you moved out. Moved in with CB?
WILSON: No, apparently, I moved in with you.
HOUSE: The very fact that you're resisting my insight proves to me...
WILSON: [interrupts] House, you're right. Why not? Why not date you? I-i-it's brilliant.
WILSON: We've known each other for years, We've put up with all kinds of crap from each other, and we keep coming back. We're a couple!

[/transcript]

Kudos to the writers of the show for making the world a better place with House/Wilson. Now if only Smallville could take some hints...

Melbourne

Hello again!

I am back in Melbourne, having arrived a little over a week ago. This is the first opportunity I've had to finally slow down a bit and write some updates. The weather is finicky as usual, blowy one moment, sunshiney the next, and I can't seem to keep my toes warm.

I've moved into a new apartment this year - save a few maintenance issues, it's really comfortable. I have a room to myself with lots of light, a cosy little jam space for the guitar and amp, a panoramic view of Fitzroy and a roomy workspace (I like having my work spread out in front of me).

One end of the room

View from the window - best I could do with limited manual settings

In other news, the Melbourne Uni Ultimate Frisbee recruitment went well. In fact, compared to Weightlifting & Powerlifting at the table next to us, we went very well indeed. It feels great playing a bigger role in the club this year - there is a sense of ownership and belonging to the club that really makes the time and effort invested worthwhile.

Finally, I got a tutoring position at uni. I had put Intermediate Financial Accounting as my first preference, but was refused that subject on grounds that I was too young to tutor a second year subject. Instead, I was offered a first year subject, Accounting Reports and Analysis, which I'm less confident with. Nonetheless, it will be a valuable experience and as good a time as any to get the basics right this time.

Next week marks the start of my final year at uni. I'm done thinking about the what-ifs and could-have-been-betters - I have only one goal this year.

Excel.

Of hunger and ambition

Here I am, off work again thanks to a brand new public holiday (Thaipusam) in KL. This one, while unexpected, was certainly not surprising in light of the upcoming elections and recent political going-ons.

Time then, to take stock of where I am and where I will be going. My 2 month stint at PricewaterhouseCoopers KL is drawing to an end. I'm quite reluctant to leave, despite having substituted my entire holiday for work, as I've really enjoyed this internship. My colleagues, both fellow interns and permanent staff, are an awesome bunch. While the scene in Tax and Assurance may be bleaker (so I've heard), my time at Advisory - Corporate Finance/Infrastructure, Government & Utilities has been extremely rewarding. I've worked on a number of projects now, and the opportunity and ability to make real contributions to their work is something I find very fulfilling.

Post-internship, I will have a 2 week break for general relaxing and of course, CNY. Then it's back to Melbourne on the 15th Feb. This coming semester will be hectic, and if things go according to plan, my final semester at university will be even more so. At this stage, it looks very likely that I will finish off my final semester at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. There is no expressing just how much I want this.

Why I say 'likely' is because there are two stages to the exchange application process. The first and biggest hurdle is obtaining the Faculty endorsement, which is based solely on results (so they say). Once Melbourne Abroad receives this endorsement, it will then nominate you for a place at your host institution. This, I think is based on the number of spots available any given year. I've never been so fixated on a goal, so hungry for something ever in my life as I have been with Wharton. Getting in was my sole and all-consuming motivation throughout the exams. While my Sem 2 results came in weaker than I'd hoped for, I somehow scraped through the selection. I feel a bit like I snuck in the back door illegally, but I may well have overestimated the competition. Either way, the picture Faculty advisers and Wharton return students painted prior to my application had not been a rosy one.

Anyhow, that's over and in my favour. I'm overwhelmingly relieved and 12 kinds of happy. I'm now waiting for the host institution papers, which may take up to 12 weeks. What this means for Sem 1 is that I will now have to complete the four prerequisite subjects for an honours year in Finance all in one go. To have a realistic bid at an honours year, I will need straight mid-to-high H1s in all four subjects - a feat I've not been able to pull off to date. But it's doable - I've quit competitive frisbee, minimised other commitments - it's just that failing is not an option.

I have no doubt that the States will be everything I've dreamed of and more. I just need to make sure I get there - that place, that stepping stone midway between Washington D.C. and New York City.

Unigames in pictures

At the fringes of where I live, TTDI, lies an old bumi project, abandoned and left to rot. It had a huge banner saying "Project Reviving Soon" since 2004.

Unlike that contractor, this blog delivers*.

As promised in the previous post, I now have a semi-decent internet connection to upload photos from unigames. Photos belong to Lyndsey and Wealy, photographers extraordinaire, and Rob, you know, that guy.

Our accomodation - The Chevron Renaissance

A selection of the team's mohawks

Moho 2007

I didn't put photos of the parties up, so just imagine lots of dancing, faux-grinding, drinking and sweaty, half-naked boys. There's no party like a frisbee party!

*That's right, Kang. :)

Australian Uni Games

Hello hello! I am back from the Gold Coast just this evening, off a 30 hour coach/train journey from Surfers' Paradise to Sydney Central to Melbourne. The trip was made very bearable by good company, card games, lots of knitting and lots of sleep. In case you're curious, I have painstakingly produced about 30 x 15 cm of scarf, with the only minor mishap being that I accidentally added 4 stitches progressively starting from the 5th row. No matter, once the scarf gets long enough, no one will ever know. Shh.

So, the Gold Coast was divine. Once again, Melbourne Uni shacked us up at the kind of lodging befitting athletes from the 10th best university in the world (in Arts) - the Chevron Renaissance Towers. Needless to say, it was luxury. We were right in the heart of the main shopping/clubbing district, a short walk from the gorgeous beach and a short bus ride from our manicured playing fields. One night, as we drank beer and played cards on the balcony of the 27th floor and looked out on the lights of Surfers' Paradise spread out beneath us, I felt like I was in Vegas.

But I digress. We didn't come for a relaxing holiday after all, we came to play 12 games over 5 days in a pool with 7 of the top 11 UF teams, while staying hydrated and un-sunburnt and coming out and partying hard every night. And we came to claim a medal. We fought hard - as a team, our performance fluctuated a bit throughout the week and often, we gave away a few early points before remembering to score. Some games we should have trod over, we grinded out over universe point; some games we should have won, we lost.

Long story short, we missed out on the quarterfinals by 1 point and found ourselves relegated to the 9/10 playoff. Despite our misleading end ranking, we played with some amazing intensity and spirit and skill. I think it's fair then to allow ourselves a little hapless shrug and sum our result up in Freise's words - would've, could've, should've.

Individually, I played a shite tournament. My physical endurance was...not there and I struggled from day 1 to keep my legs moving. One could argue I've been struggling on and off since SUG. It was disappointing and frustrating for me, and perhaps even more frustrating for our coach and the team. I knew I had so much more to contribute, but physically I just couldn't deliver. I could come up with all the excuses in the world to explain my poor showing, but it won't change the fact that I couldn't, didn't step up to what I expected from myself. A teammate said, regardless of whether we won or lost, the most important thing is to take something out of every game. I'm taking something out of this tournament, I'm telling myself to make it a positive, constructive learning experience and come back next year ready to kill - or take myself off the team.

Long story short, I gotta fire up.

Off the field, I had a fantastic time. Each apartment took turns hosting a home-cooked team dinner for the first 4 days of the tournament, which was not only a great idea financially, but also an excellent showcase of some pretty amazing culinary skills we had on the team. I don't think I've ever been so well-fed at a tournament until now. Dinners then dissolved into rowdy games of caps, kangaroo court sittings (a particularly memorable case involved a charge of teamcest, which was accompanied by a hilarious dramatic reenactment of how it all began by the prosecutors), card games, general banter and serious team meetings. When it got sufficiently late, we hit the clubs and partied like it's hot. I piked all but one of the parties, including the infamous Friday party of drunkeness and debauchery where, apparently, everyone hooked up with everyone. Yes, so I'm a dirty piker, but when one is dating the king of dirty pikers, what can you say hey? :)

So that was my week and the end of my holidays. Reality insists on reminding me I have assignments due very soon and final exams in a month. My exam timetable is out - good news is, I will be done in 2 weeks; bad news is, holy shit I need to start studying. I'll put up AUG photos once I can get my grubby hands on them. Also, Alex returns this Wednesday after 6 weeks in Bangalore. I'm excited!

Word.

Remember this?

Here's something more recent. Management of Financial Institutions has never been so hip.

sup dawg

was just revising for the midsemester shiznit
gotta a question fo ya.

in the practice question set 1, q 6
how do we get that the specific provision is $5000?
is it that the lvr of loan b is 85% and we are supposed to know that there is an 80% cut off or something? therefore there is a 5% uninsured part that we need to make a specific provision for?

your help is much appreciated my brotha from another mutha

In other news, the midsemester exam and assignment deadline season is over at last! This has been a very long week and one I'd prefer not to relive. It could have been worse - many were in a much stickier situation, so I should count myself lucky.

Since my last post, the weather has gotten warmer and lovelier, the days are getting longer, I've fully recovered, the bulk of my work is done and the holidays start in two days!

Could it possibly get any better?

Actually, it can. I'm heading to Gold Coast the week after next for beaches, parties and unigames, our league team made the finals, 20 more days till Alex gets back (I'd take the glass half full tack and put an 'only' before the '20') and everything else in general is going quite satisfactorily.

Balancing it up on the other end of the scale, however, is a malfuctioning phone, a bunged knee, an increased occurence of muscle tightness and a really sore lower back. Efforts are now underway to discover the cause of the latter two. So far, I've dismissed the possibility of a poor diet, bad posture and prolonged hunching over laptop as causes.

The mystery continues.

Semester 2 and winter blues

So, semester 2 began tamely enough. Work and assignments and mid-semester tests are starting to build up - about time for me to get into gear. I've been doing more of the same since I last updated, throwing plastic around and estranging my non-frisbee inclined friends further, though I suspect they can be easily appeased by the promise of gelati.

Anyway, barely two weeks since I properly recovered from my cough, I've come down with a sore throat, cold and cough of a different strain. It's very phlegmy, but thankfully does not send me into coughing/choking fits like the last one did. I'm trying very hard not to feel miserable, but some days, when I've got to drag myself out of warmth and comfort into the winter chill to play frisbee, I feel like running off in search of a corner to cry. Unfortunately, being only midway through the season, I can't afford to take time off for fear of losing fitness. As it were, I'm still struggling to get it back up to pre-sickness levels and the experience so far has been wholly and determinedly painful.

I haven't been sick for a long time, which makes this extended bout of viruses a lot less manageable. I'm not used to feeling shitty so much of the time, having dizzy spells after climbing up a flight of staircase and the general unhealthiness of my being. The cold doesn't help one bit either. I've never wished more fervently than in the past month to be back home, soaking up the sun and eating good food. Oh, take me away from this pale and pasty, dank and dreary winter!

Sigh.

In other news:

Alex leaves for India in 3 days for a 6-week long training course sponsored by his new work. I miss him already. :(

I am going up to Sydney again this weekend for the 1st National League tournament. I just want to get it over and done with.

I need a good, hot meal.

I wish...

Once again, in the sinking clarity of 20/20 hindsight, I wish I'd started studying microeconomics earlier. Skimming the pages this afternoon to ready myself for the formidable task of catching up on 10 weeks worth of material, I had a brief panic attack.

Thankfully, as with these things, once I dug into the math, the equations took on some meaning, and the only thing left to lament is the lack of time to get them down pat. I was relieved to find that the exam isn't a hurdle, which means I've got at least 33/40 marks from earlier assessments and require at least 30/100 marks on the exam to pass the subject. With the work I covered today and yesterday, that may just be within reach.

You know it's bad when you start thinking about not failing the paper. That aside, I'm really enjoying the study. I'm going through it at a more hurried pace than I would have liked, but my feelings of animosity toward the lecturer and the subject have somewhat evaporated. This is a really interesting subject, once you understand the math. Why, I...I actually like microeconomics.

Since my brain is saturated with economics right now, I might as well share a few entertaining tidbits. One of the topics we're studying is uncertainty. In economics, uncertainty that can be quantified is called risk. But for all intents and purposes, both terms are used interchangeably.

Generally, when we think about reducing/avoiding risk or uncertainty, we usually associate it with the desire to achieve a more positive expected outcome. In economics, however, reducing/avoiding risk is strictly about reducing/avoiding uncertainty, in other words, increasing the certainty of an outcome.

This inevitably becomes a hotbed for cheeky conclusions. For instance, consider two skydivers. One has a parachute, one doesn't. They both jump. Who is taking on more risk?

At first glance, jumping off a plane without a parachute seems like risky behaviour. But in fact, the skydiver with the parachute is taking on more risk. There is a chance his parachute will work, there is a chance it might not. Conversely, the skydiver without the parachute has eliminated all risk - without a parachute, he will die with certainty. :)

Another case: I want to open a restaurant and I know that while operating, there will be a fire risk. What should I do to reduce/eliminate this risk?

a. Don't open a restaurant
b. Buy fire insurance
c. Install fire extinguishers
d. Burn the restaurant to the ground

They all count!

All right, wrapping things up, I'll leave you with a snippet from my econs textbook.

The Tappet brothers (the hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk) offers a risk-free investment. Their Capital Depreciation Fund guarantees a 50% return. You send them $100 and they send you back $50.

Sigh. I want the exams to be over. Now.

"Dad, instead of my usual allowance, I'd like to have the present value of all my future cash flows."

I received an update from home a few days ago, with news of my sister's stellar performance at the CHS sports day. 4 gold medals, a triple jump record and a Peserta Terbaik award - truly, I have underestimated her. This of course, makes us just about even, down to the triple jump record. (No, not mine. Mine was set at PLC. I'd be snarky if she broke mine... :) Nonetheless, I am rather proud of her. If I'm not careful, I may soon be outdone. Good thing for the 6 year headstart...

In other news, Melbourne Uni training has finally got off the ground and it has never been better. Regionals are coming up 2-5 July in middle-of-nowhere Traralgon and Australian Uni Games sometime in September in the far more exciting Gold Coast. It's been awesome getting back into the mixed scene again after a somewhat uninspiring season playing women's at nationals. Still, it was a good learning experience and helped me identify a fair number of things I'd like to work and improve on.

My finals are in 3 weeks, which means it's high time to kick myself into action. Right now, I'm still cruising along at a far too leisurely pace, doing bits of study here and there and missing quite a few lectures. If only my Business Finance lecturer didn't squeak so much I'm sure I'd feel more guilty about not going.

The salsa itch is coming back again, despite feverish attempts to keep it dormant, at least until next semester. I am dancing away in my head, which, in the end, may be for the best. In my head I imagine so well the fluidity and passion and release of two dancers moving seamlessly as a unit, but I suspect as soon I as I take that first step again the reality will be much less pretty.

But it makes it so shiny!

So I logged on to the Online Tutor service last night to see if anyone had asked questions that could be helpful for my Business Finance assignment. I should have known better.

Question:
Can I bind and laminate my assignment? If my assignment is bound and laminated, do I bind the Scan Sheet along with my answers to Section B as well? Or do I submit it separately?

Answer:
NEVER LAMINATE YOUR ASSIGNMENT! We are not going to hang it up on the wall for posterity, but we do need to mark it. Laminating it makes it difficult to mark. You should hand in the Pearson scan sheet seperately from part b of the assignment. There will be a seperate box to hand in the Pearson scan sheet from the other part of your assignment. Do not bind your assignment just staple all of part b together with the declaration on the front cover.

You tell him, Online Tutor!

Where do these people come from? Nevermind that there already were clear instructions on the coversheet of the assignment detailing exactly how you are to hand in your assignment. Oh Online Tutor, I feel your pain!

Before I sign off to do another assignment, I feel the need to mention again just how much I love ultimate frisbee at Melbourne Uni and everyone in it.

---

Well, laminating it does mean I can produce that cool fwop fwop wobble fwop sound...

what's been happening

What a long two weeks it has been. Exams have gone fairly well - 3 papers down, 1 more to go. For the most part, I've been holed up in my apartment, emerging only to walk to the exam venue and get food supplies.

Between textbooks and tute questions, I've been religiously checking the World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) score site, though updates were disappointingly shoddy and sporadic. Still, they did little to hamper that crazy adrenalin rush I get just thinking about the frisbee action going on at worlds, and the close tabs I've been keeping on the teams and players I know battling it out in Perth. Most of the Aus teams didn't fare too well, but I suspect the opportunity to play at WUCC is an end in itself. Chilly, Aus' No. 1 men's team, on the other hand, blazed their way through the competition to snag the bronze. What an experience it must've been! It's absolutely inspiring. I swear, I will not rest until I'm playing at WUCC 2010, wherever in the world that may be.

The gold medal went to Buzz Bullets of Japan. Heartening to know Asians aren't forever handicapped by our smaller built and physique next to our foreign counterparts. Or at least, we've found one more sport in which we aren't. =) I'm hoping one day Malaysia will make it to worlds. Though judging by the general scene in most other sports back home, I may be a tad optimistic. I'm not sure what it is we lack. Passion, perhaps.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to league after its hiatus for worlds. I can feel my limbs atrophying already from sitting/lying around all day. Weather in Melbourne is ridiculous as usual. With summer but 2 weeks away, naturally we had to have some *snow* and hail, followed by one of the hottest days just 2 days later. *dies*

When I'm not out on the streets trying to survive the elements, I'm watching TV, reading, thinking about frisbee and leading the most routine life possible. Snore.

Help! My Finance textbook has a sense of humour!

Here are some 'gems'.

"Volatility is measured as the standard deviation of annual returns. This last sentence is an example of the sort of statistical jargon that is designed to ensure that quantitative analysts keep their jobs."

"Recall that securities are priced on the basis of the actual number of days in the year in Australia (and many other cricket-playing countries), whereas in the United States, for instance, securities are priced as though there were 360 days in a year. Note that conventions are not necesarily correct chronologically or mathematically, and cricket, while providing an answer for most of life's problems, probably has little to do with the 365-day convention."

"Annuities have a long history. One interesting early annuity was the tontine. Paticipants in a tontine would receive lifetime annual payments in exchange for each making a single payment. As participants died, their payments were redistributed to increase the payments to the surviving participants. The incentive to hasten the demise of other participants was unfortunately, only too evident in some family-based tontines."

"Every transaction eventually has to be settled, whether through cash, through electronic systems or by a visit by Joey Soprano. The payments system has evolved to implement a more orderly process of payments than that envisaged by Mr. Soprano."

"Borrowers come from Mars, while lenders come from Venus."

"The flow of funds from surplus to deficit units is vital to growth an economic development. Money kept under a Scrooge's mattress just produces an uncomfortable night's sleep."

Yeah.

A bunch of naked students ran past the library today. I heard the noise and racket first, and by the time I looked up all I saw was bare bottoms, flailing limbs and a lot of skin. After exchanging amused looks with other people at the study table, I went back to my study. About a minute later, a rather stout fellow, also completely naked, sauntered past. My guess is he was left behind by the pack, and when you're left behind in the middle of one of the most heavily-trafficked paths at uni without a thread on your back, what do you do but saunter?

Anyway, I handed in my first assignment today. Two more to go this week, then I can finally take a much-needed breather. It's the usual suspects keeping me busy again - ultimate, FMAA and lunch/dinner/no-occasion dates. The first and last is a nice sort of busy, so I'm not really complaining.

I saw an ad on TV just now. They were trying to sell a compilation CD titled "Songs for the Broken-Hearted", with the slogan "Let music mend your heart." I'm not sure how one is supposed to mend a broken heart with songs like How Can I Live Without You, Incomplete and other similarly titled songs. Thankfully I'm the optimistic sort, so thinking about the whole concept of this product and the people that will phone that number on the screen to buy this product merely amuses, not depresses me.

The reality show, Big Brother, on the other hand, makes my brain shrivel. Thank goodness BB season is over.

Scaramouche, scaramouche!

Every now and then, I come across a song that makes me unbelievably happy just listening to it. Last week it was Rufus Wainwright - Instant Pleasure; this week I present you Queen - Good Old-fashioned Lover Boy. This may sound obsessive, but I suspect I lost 2 nights worth of sleep because the Queen song wouldn't stop playing in my head and I couldn't stop humming and giggling delightedly over it in bed. Now I'm just lapping up Queen's Platinum Collection, generously provided by bittorrent. I suppose I have Aditi to thank for this, O Aditi, provider of all good music, I worship you. Maybe not provider, but introducer. All the same.

Semester reopens on Monday, and I'm rather looking forward to it. I refuse to admit that I've been bored this holiday; the stubborness is inexplicable. I'll concede that I've been a tad restless this week or so, for certain reasons, but once semester starts no doubt I'll be quite happily distracted. This has been one of the most enjoyable holidays so far, not long enough to drag, and not short enough to leave me unsatisfied.

I've read 2 of Fry's books, which were both wonderfully poofy, witty and fun. Reread The Fountainhead, which was very fulfilling until I reached the end where I discovered that the last 6 pages were missing and scrambled desperately on the internet looking for an e-book copy. I watched Crash, a very confronting, vignette-style movie about racism twice. It was good, very well composed, and provided a lot of food for thought. I got a little terrified thinking about the firearm laws in the US, and how anyone could live at ease knowing the next person on the street may have a gun is beyond me.

I abandoned American Gods halfway through. It's uncharacteristic of me to not finish a book, but I didn't have the stamina for it. I've only a limited appetite for the fantasy genre, and American Gods just failed to draw me in. Admittedly, I started it during that period of restlessness, where watching TV was the only thing that could hold my attention long enough to make the time pass. So I watched the news channels a lot, which didn't help the situation, because of all the depressing stupidity and stubborness going on in the Middle East. Where is the UN in all of this, for god's sake?

Anyway, that about sums up this holiday, and ultimate's part in it goes without saying of course. This update has come a little late; it's me being lazy again. I hope all is well back home, and to those who've left or are now starting to leave for uni, all the best!

Superman Returns opens tomorrow with Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor! All that evilly goodness...I can't wait!

4 more days to unigames, and I'm a little excited, a little frustrated. It's been 4 months since I started playing ultimate seriously, but I feel as though I'm improving much too slowly. My self-esteem took a number of blows again during the Monday night league game as I got yelled at a lot. I know it's a very heat-of-the-moment thing, and everybody yells at everybody; I just get a higher proportion of it cause I happen to be the most inexperienced player on the team.

There is just so much to work on and I have no idea how to work it any bloody faster other than playing more games and giving it time. At the moment, my brain turns to molasses when we talk strategy, I have zero field sense and a terrible awareness of the disc. We played a defence that I seemed to screw up all through the game, and just this evening during fitness training I found out why.

Apparently the defence we played was a variation of zone defence invented by an old UF coach of ours a few years ago. It was a huge relief finally sorting out the jargon, the concept and method behind the strategy. While I still lack experience playing it, at least I now have some basic theoretical grounding. The seniors have been extremely patient and reassuring as well, and for that I could not be more grateful.

Anyway, that's the news on ultimate so far. I hope I won't be too much of a liability on the team come unigames and that I remember to keep my head about me during the matches. I'm currently revisiting The Fountainhead, which has been very start-stoppish thanks to the World Cup, season 2 of The Office (US) and general wasting of time. =) My fingers are too cold most times to play the guitar properly and the strings have been rather stiff and twangy in a bad way also thanks to the cold. *blameblameblame*

Either I've been particularly unperceptive, or there really has been a dearth of interesting things to blog about lately. Fortunately, I haven't got to the point of blogging about absolutely banal things just to satisfy the blog itch. Yet. (Although what constitutes as banal may well be a matter of opinion.) By the way I found out recently that it is pronounced ba'nal, not 'banel. I'm a stickler for pronunciation, and have been cured from saying cha'racter instead of 'character by my very *ahem* insistent friends.

Last but not least, the makeshift speaker comprising a very expensive cable, a tube amp and an adapter has worked like a charm and I can now pretend I have surround sound when watching shows or listening to music on my laptop. Did I mention I'm going through a 70s music phase at the moment? Summer breeeeeze, makes me feel fine...

[ this space for rent ]

At last, the tedium of exams are over. How did I go? Who knows. Not too well, I'd hazard, but I'm too relieved to care at the moment.

Even before the paper yesterday morning, I was up and about various libraries in uni collecting what shall be termed my holiday kit, picking up books, DVDs and putting more on hold. I will read, watch, play (frisbee + guitar) myself silly this holidays. I don't think I've read a book proper since Huxley's Island start of this year.

After the paper, a smile (the usual explosive sort you find after last exam papers) battled with my lips to be let out, but I didn't want people to think I'd gone mad smiling crazily to myself but I did laugh a little. I came home, set up camp on the couch and read Stephen Fry - The Liar from cover to cover. It was 2am when I finished, and I put down the book drunkenly, dizzy with contentment. I've neglected the pleasure of reading a good book far too long.

The Liar is brilliant. I loved it. It's funny, witty, touching, entertaining, ridiculous, insightful, exciting and it makes me sound like an amazon book review. I think I've covered all the adjectives now. Whatever it is, it wasn't intellectually heavy and plodding stuff, thus perfect for resting the mind after two weeks of fuckety exams. Helped that during that time I was pretending to study I'd wikied and googled the life out of Stephen Fry (and Hugh Laurie and others) and was able to appreciate the book more for its scattered references to his child-to-young-adulthood. My next mission is to read all other books from the blessed pen of Stephen Fry and possibly Laurie's The Gun Seller too.

That's all for the post-exam post (geddit? geddit? *collective groan*) and I'm off to sink my teeth into a DVD. Woohoohoohooo! [/tigger]

PS: I have decided that Michael Rosenbaum, in ten years time, will be James Spader. How I heart those two. I have a weakness for men with incredibly sexy voices. Incredibly.

recharge, please

That I managed to drag myself around uni today, despite heavy-lidded eyes and dark circles that suggest an unfortunate accident involving monkeys and eyeliners, is a commendable feat.

It makes no sense. I mean, I slept around 1.30am. Which by my standards, is fairly reasonable. It's almost as if 2 weeks worth of sleep deprivation and fatigue that I didn't know I had hit me all at once today and knocked me out cold.

Thank god for Rowden White, a somewhat hippie-atmosphered no-study library that provides the one thing I always wanted at schools - a place to lie down and sleep. (The operating word here being 'lie down') I had two consecutive lectures this morning, but after the first, I knew I had to get myself to Rowden White asap before I stretched myself out right on the carpet in the lecture theatre. It seemed like a very good idea at that time.

And you know what they say. The more you sleep, the more you need to sleep. I spent the rest of the day back at the apartment drifting in and out of a haze of drugged stupor and semi-formed dreams.

Ultimate frisbee featured in a lot of those dreams, interestingly, one more absurd than the next. =P I dreamt about Frank, our UF prez, telling off those who haven't been attending training.

Frank: When we signed you on (for the unigames UF team presumably) we expected you to come to training. I even signed off on all your forms with this. *brandishes a piece of paper from nowhere*



Frank: See this?! That's the ultimate frisbee seal of approval. That's my guarantee to the organisers that you'd show for training!!

Everyone: *nods as if he's making perfect sense*

At this point, I became more conscious and was all like "What the hell..."

Yeah, I know. XD

now that it's over...

I can tell you that event organising is one of the most educational things ever.

For the past three, three and half weeks, I've been helping to organise FMAA's inaugural International Careers Evening, which is an intimate, cocktailey networking session for international students with firm reps. Thanks to this, I haven't been to badminton in weeks, haven't cooked a proper meal in a week, have gotten even more behind in accounting and amassed an impressive backlog of work. (Although, I have to admit, this is mostly due to my incurable tendency to procrastinate. One day I'll change.)

But, but. After yesterday night, and all of the inevitable last minute hiccups (very amusing ones, I might add), the event turned out absolutely fantastic!

Evidence here










here



and here!



Unfortunately, I didn't get in any photos. Bugger.

I came on the committee when the project was halfway through, so a lot of my job was just following up on leads, establishing a few new ones and helping out in general. Ezien (some of you may remember her, 2 years our senior in CHS, and EIC of ed-board I think) was the real star and the most impressive multitasker I've ever met. You won't believe the workload she's been juggling the past month. The thing about FMAA projects is, most of them are pretty much a one-man show, so to pull of something of this scale really says something (we had >120 attendees, well over the initial plan of 100 and had to turn down many, many people) The event started at 6pm; at 4pm we were still getting emails/calls from students asking for tix.

Interestingly, 3 out of 3 international students who made it on to the FMAA committee this year and the 2 years before were from CHS. And there seems to be quite a number of PLC alumni too. Either I've been going to the right schools, or these schools have been producing the right people.

Anyway, lots of men in business suits! *ahemyeah* The venue was lovely, the atmosphere was lovely and overall the response and feedback from firms and students alike were very positive. All in all, a very rewarding experience, and a great opportunity to apply what I've learnt this sem, in relation to costs, marketing, management etc. Especially marketing, since ticket sales were slow to pick up.

And I should sleep now. Early tute tomorrow morning and then an informal lunch with the Dean and some nobel prize laureate. Don't look at me, I'm just going for the food. =P I hope it's good. I need a real meal.